25:22 HOURS.

  THURSDAY, 01 NOIEMBRIE 1441.

  GLACIES, YONDEL.

  NIGHT HAD CREPT UPON THE WORLD OF FANTASIA.

  Jacob remembered nights like these when he was a child. Long before he spent his nights fighting the cold in foxholes or in the confines of a destroyed building, he would stay up spending his time wandering the dark with his sisters each time they dragged him outside to look at the distant stars that fought against the light pollution of Seattle. They would wander far enough that it would take hours for them to get home, and now it would take him longer to get back home. This was the price he paid for trading a lab coat for a battle dress uniform.

  JACOB ARNOLD GREEN, PRIVATE FIRST CLASS, 75TH RANGER REGIMENT. His thumbs rubbed over the steel dog tags he had been issued coming out of basic training and AIT. His grandfather had always wanted him to be something more; whether he intended for that to be a computer savvy Ranger in the army was up to interpretation. The last he remembered of the man was before he went off to war in Africa, and it was also the last time he saw any of his sisters in person. If it weren’t for the regiment, he would’ve fallen back into isolation and cut himself off from most of everyone in his life.

  He could still remember the day he met Sergeant Mike Randall, his current NCO. It was when he did a unit transfer to be TAD to a task force in Africa. He was on assignment to provide SIGNIT support to the Rangers within the unit, and he was pseudo adopted by the then Corporal who was up for E-5. Their shared experience was over long talks during patrols, sharing crappy MREs, and getting caught in the occasional firefight and live-fire exercises.

  Mike had always told him that soldiers were not made to fight wars, but they were created to protect something or someone.

  Jacob didn’t understand what he meant until they had ended up in a place long far from Earth.

  “So, everyone knows what we’re doing here!” At the front of a small room beside the horse stables, Captain Oliver tucked both of his hands below his plate carrier. He was in front of a wooden board that had a map of the kingdom. To the northern border, there were red pins, and green pins littered the Frontier. “In case you forgot reports from garrison forces in the north suggest that the Demon Lord’s army is encroaching and staging themselves for an incursion. We ‘Holy Knights’, as you all know us Rangers from the 75th and our trusty CCT will be performing a special reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines. Our area of operations is the Frontier and what lies beyond, and we will be joined by our commanding officer Princess-Chieftain Lecca-Maradel Arish and three knights to escort us to the Frontier.”

  “Gentlemen,” Lecca began as she stepped forward. Compared to the dresses they had grown used to seeing her in, she had traded such royal garments for a form fitting blouse, and long brown skirt. She tied her gleaming silver hair into a simple plaid that she rested over her right shoulder. “I once more must thank you for choosing to help this kingdom in these uncertain times despite your own circumstances. Reports gathered from our scouts in the 13th Mountain Company and local reconnaissance pickets have led to this operation drawn into existence by the king. Your primary mission is to gather intelligence on hostile positions and exploit weaknesses you may find within the Frontier. All secondary objectives will include supporting the local population in their resistance against the Demon Lord.”

  Oliver took a marker and circled a large plain north of the Frontier, “Everything we know has been sketchy at best. And there’s no guarantee that we’ll be getting out of here in one piece. So, remember to check your shots out there and be sure to differentiate non-combatants from hostiles. Even with the chances that this won’t be any different from our time in Africa and Pakistan, I want to be sure that we’ll maintain positive control of any engagements we get into, including not expending more ammunition we have available. The Great Sage pulled through for us and was able to conjure another 1000 of 6.5, but if you throw shots, that’ll be just another Tuesday shootout.”

  Captain Orwell entered the room taking off the military coat he wore in the cold morning. “Ah Holy Knights!” He called out, drawing their attention as he stepped to the front alongside Oliver, “As much as I would like to accompany you all to the Frontier, I have duties to attend to here in the capital. This mission will determine how the kingdom will react to the Demon Lord and his army, and I wish you all luck in this endeavor. Your carriages have been stocked with ammunition, food, and water; the rest will be up to you.”

  “Thank you, Captain Orwell.” Oliver said shaking the man’s hand. He looked over at Lieutenant Devlin and motioned for him to get his men to the carriages outside.

  “Randall,” As Mike was grabbing his backpack he was stopped by the lieutenant. “I need you and Green to always escort the princess, make sure that she doesn’t get into any trouble. Too much has happened to warrant otherwise.”

  As the princess walked beside him, Mike wanted her to stand against the lieutenant and Oliver. But alas she did nothing as she happily waited for the sergeant and Green to gather their belongings.

  “You’re kidding me, LT?”

  Devlin simply smiled at the sergeant.

  “Fuck you.”

  “C’mon sarge, let’s get going.” Green said as he adjusted his rifle slung across his plate carrier.

  Lecca giggled as she followed behind the two men. Starting with her training the previous day, she had been up all night preparing for this operation. She hadn’t seen the king since she was handed down orders from Senator Orpheus with the royal stamp on the scroll. It bothered her that the one that was her father did not meet with her before sending her out on a mission she may very well not survive from. It wouldn’t be the first time though. Many of the maids and butlers that made the everyday at the castle mundane new that truth. And she was so lucky to have a close confidant amongst them.

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  Even with her new role as the commanding officer of the Holy Knights, she found it difficult to approach them despite them being so open to conversation whenever certain encounters never required rank. Her eyes flickered to Mike. In the short time they had known each other, communicating with the man—who she learned was younger than him—was something that came easy. He held loyalty only to his nation, and those he trusted the most. Yet, even with his current position she found him working tirelessly to ensure that all his men, and all the people he encountered in this new world had their needs met. He was considerate, to a fault. But that was something that she believed made him worthy of being a Holy Knight.

  The weight of the day—her exhaustion from all this—her eyelids began to gently flutter as they wandered into the freezing cold morning. She remained in step with Mike until they had reached the carriage that she would be riding in, and she watched as he and Green slowly climbed into the carriage moving their personal belongings and stowing them to allow room for all the passengers that had yet to arrive. Lecca’s own leather bag was tucked away in the carriage already, and all she carried on her was a knife strapped behind her on the belt, a small pouch of money, and a special vial of Vitalitas that would provide a small amount of artificial mana in case she exerted herself with the Nullification magic.

  Mike, the Rangers, they were not soldiers of fortune. They were nothing more than normal men.

  If they were here trying to survive, it was her responsibility to find them a proper haven. Even if it meant leaving this reality, she needed to return them to a place that they could call home. And that naturally extended to Earth. Their birthright, their home. The Demon Lord could never steal them from there, not even the king.

  “Hey, Lecca, you have everything: clothing, hygiene items, identification?” Mike asked as he crawled back to the opening.

  “Yes.” Lecca said apprehensively.

  “What about weapons?” Green suddenly interjected appearing behind the sergeant.

  “The spells I cast; they are capable of summoning weapons. Though, I always have my dagger on me.” Her explanation though understood by the men, was only amplified as she reached out her hand. After a small burst of purple light raced down her arms, the very same dagger she had on the back of her belt slowly materialized in her hands. Compared to the blade made of steel, this weapon was a crisp-white substance that had reams of gold and purple embroidery running down the hilt and spine of the blade. She held it flat in both palms letting the sergeant and private see clearly in the scattered moonlight.

  Mike smiled as he reached out a hand to the princess. “C’mon you two, we should get settled.”

  Gently folding her fingers back, the weapon burst into a million purple lights as they fell and evaporated. Any remaining remnants followed her hand as she firmly grasped Mike’s forearm. With a firm tug, she was pulled up into the carriage. Her boots were tucked into the drop-down lip as she helped herself up only removing them when she had confidently crossed the threshold into the carriage. As Mike took a seat, he removed his bag and placed it between his legs. Detaching his carbine from his sling, he placed it in front of it, only controlling the weapon with a steady hand on the barrel.

  Brushing the stray silver strands over her eyes behind her ear, Lecca silently took a seat directly on his left. She knew from the small glint of focus in his shining brown eyes that his thoughts capture him, not letting him have a single moment of rest.

  Looking further at his face, her eyes were drawn to the scar that was hidden behind the collar of his blouse. She was still as she blinked.

  A young man stood alone outside of a small house, far away from any civilization. The golden sun was high in the bright blue skies and looked upon him with silent somber. A single white bird flew through the horizon and into heaven.

  “Do you think that this world will ever see peace?”

  Green looked over his shoulder for a moment before he returned to organizing the gear at the front of the cart. The question was enough to draw some semblance of life back to the sergeant as he shifted his head looking at the princess from the corner of his eye.

  “I have had dreams,” Lecca admitted. “I know that this is beyond anyone’s control. But this endless war between the Demon Lord and humanity has been a never-ending cycle of hate. Though time and time again I can always see the end of the war, the same dream where those I know watched my coronation, my ascent to the throne.” Her voice grew weak as she fell into silence as the moon fully broke through the midnight clouds kissing her pale skin and silver hair.

  Slowly drawing in a breath, Mike didn’t know how to respond as he stared into the dark void in front of him.

  “Mike?”

  There was a girl with long brown hair and brown eyes, a gentle, somber smile… She flattened her white button-down shirt and brushed her hands on her loose blue jeans.

  “Is it seeing the future?” He asked. He had the same dream over and over. There was no peace here. “What we fight for can be called a fantasy. Our very nature is violence and destruction. We’ve all committed sins trying to make things right, but none of this will go away. All I can do is pray that we can still live and forgive what comes before and after.”

  Lecca couldn’t tear her eyes away from Mike. She separated her lips struggling to let out her next question, “Is that what you fight for?”

  “I don’t know…”

  What he could only think of was the thoughts that occupied his mind when he and twelve others stood on the podium in the MEPS center and raised their right hands. So long ago, yet so close in the reality of time; this is where he entered service not as a job, not as a lifestyle. He was the last to leave the room, watched over by the 50 stars on the flag that hung over him. It wasn’t patriotism, it wasn’t a sense of duty. He was there to protect those that couldn’t protect themselves. Mike Randall was there to prevent anything like the war in Africa from ever happening again. Was it even possible? A soldier was a cog in the machine, there to carry out the will of those that ultimately could’ve stopped each disaster. That’s at least how most men and women viewed it. Even if they were right, he was there for every man on the battlefield, dragging them through hell, and bringing those that didn’t make it to rest.

  To his left, the final members of Task Force Spare clambered into the carriage, stowing their personal effects next to them, or on top of them. Within five minutes the reigns snapped to the horses and the carriage lunged forward with movement as it crossed the castle grounds, eventually crossing the grand gates and onto the paved streets of the city of Glacies. From stones, and the paved road that led out of the capital, they finally began to trek along the fields and forests that littered the kingdom.

  As the stars watched them, Lecca had long given into her heavy eyelids. Three times she tried to awaken herself, yet upon the third she had given into gravity.

  Mike eventually found a new pressure sitting on his left shoulder. From the corner of his eye, he watched her sleep comfortably. She had fully lowered her guard around him, a sign of her trust, even if most of it was due to pure exhaustion. Remaining still, he felt his own eyes threaten to drag him into a deep sleep.

  Reaching out his right hand, he snatched a woobie that was taken out by Green from Mike’s pack. He used his single arm to drape most of the fabric over Lecca with a miniscule amount covering the left side of his body.

  One last time he looked to the still stars…

  Publicly Available Information: Forgotten Wishes: The Dirge:

  There are rumors of a special power within the world that allows one to see distant memories of the past and future.

  Some depict fallen brethren. Others depict new life.

  What is it that you chose, dear wanderer?